Ofsted needs to be abolished (Trigger warning)

[MrsMurphyIWish]

Watched this heartbreaking story today:

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001k4r9

A headteacher took her own life as her school was rated inadequate. The pressures Ofsted creates are immense. Last week Ofsted were on strike Wednesday so decided to break protocol and rang schools Friday to conduct inspections on Monday - some schools were off for snow but that wasn’t a good enough reasons and even if the messages were picked up, that meant school staff would have worries over the weekend - some even going into school. Then there were schools who complained as these schools were given “extra notice”. Ofsted has created such a toxic work environment.

How has it come to this? A teacher who dedicated their life to education feels that a one word judgement meant life wasn’t worth living?

Another way of saying that my opinion doesn't count. I do know several teachers and ex-teachers despite your comments. You're in a bubble and don't realise it. Quite sad really how aggressive your response is when it isn't aligned to your narrow world view.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1DaHKr1kGaku5fssX592hp2UW47uXTUQMZ-gc-tlE0Rc/htmlview

right link.

How do you view the responses?

How do you view the responses?

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1DaHKr1kGaku5fssX592hp2UW47uXTUQMZ-gc-tlE0Rc/htmlview

@Abraxan when I click on the link the spreadsheet comes up.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1DaHKr1kGaku5fssX592hp2UW47uXTUQMZ-gc-tlE0Rc/htmlview

this takes me straight to the list of responses.

Apologies - think I may have originally posted the link to the survey for submission @Abraxan @User8646382

Good point. Police in London could do with it.

My dc went to a famous ‘Outstanding’ state secondary school where there was a massive palaver to get in etc. it was shit. Academic standards were high because staff bullied kids. Non performing kids were edged out. The heads of pastoral were the most feared teachers in the school. If ofsted could focus on kids being supported whatever their education needs, it might change the landscape.

If Ofsted focused on that then they need to expand funding. I have a large list of children in my class waiting nearly two years so far for diagnosis' and therefore support, and two waiting for a special school provision to become available.

Despite my best efforts, alone in the classroom with 30 children I can't meet their needs.

Some of these Google responses are terrible. Harrowing.

I own a nursery. I’ve been through 5 or 6 Ofsted inspections in the last 20 years, and the only decent inspectors were the ones from 15-20 years ago. Every one of them since about 2009 has been a horrible bully.

In my experience, Ofsted get fixated on ridiculous practices, and then change their minds completely a couple of years later. A recent obsession is the ‘rolling snack’. This means the kids help themselves to fruit, milk, etc, when they feel like it. No amount of trying to explain how unhygienic it is to leave milk out of the fridge or let the kids mess with food (which becomes cross-contaminated and gets all over the toys) without washing their hands, can change Ofsted’s position that the ‘rolling snack’ is the RIGHT WAY to offer food and the ONLY WAY that promotes independence. An environmental health inspector would be horrified by the ‘rolling snack’, but there is no changing Ofsted’s position on it. Ofsted are always right, until of course they are not. About 20 years ago, they were promoting food play with ice cubes. They took no responsibility whatsoever when a poor child choked on one and died.

I think Ofsted are a dangerous organisation and they do way more harm than good. No organisation should be allowed to put people under so much pressure that they feel they have to kill themselves.

@User8646382 - that sounds so difficult to navigate! My children were in private day care from 10 months and I was so happy with their care (both used same nursery 3 years apart). “Rolling snack”, how ridiculous!

It’s terrible what happened.

However, I have read through the ofsted report online and it says that essential checks during recruitment of staff were not done or completed and if I was a parent I would be disgusted about this that there are people working in the school who haven’t had there background checked properly

Let’s hope that when there are there is no one in that school that could be putting children at risk.

What happened was a tragedy and shouldn't be followed up with any 'but's or 'however's.

It's a local authority school. The HR department at the local authority won't issue a contract or put a member of staff on payroll until all the references and DBS checks are in place. I am very familiar with that local authority.

So why does it state checks were not done on staff during recruitment process

Ofsted want to see evidence of everything. And rightly so - it's important. But they also expect you to lay hands on evidence immediately. This would be fine if they always wanted their evidence in the same format. But each inspector has their own preferred way of seeing things filed.

So one inspector may want to see all the first aid certificates. They will be hugely unimpressed that you have to go through each individual HR folder to find them. Another inspector may want to see all the HR paperwork for Jane Smith, and be hugely unimpressed that some of Jane Smith's paperwork isn't all in 1 folder. School offices are having to file the same document 3 or 4 different ways in different places just to satisfy the whims of different inspectors that show up. When office staff have been cut by 2/3 in many schools because of funding cuts, things fall through the gaps. I wouldn't be at all surprised if this was down to a piece of paper being filed in the wrong place. But honestly, HR will not allow you to hire without seeing proof of everything.

I have known a safeguarding fail be justified because a multi-building institution had risk assessments by subject and activity rather than by building - the report stated that they did not have risk assessments in place. They did. Just not in the precise format the inspector demanded.

The inconsistencies of Ofsted never cease to amaze me. A newly-published report for boarding provision in a state school details:

• poor record keeping around medication (doesn’t meet minimum legal boarding standards)
• gaps in safeguarding paperwork for people living on the boarding site
• Pupil with SEN does not have a personal evacuation plan in case of fire, even though this is needed

and the setting gets ‘Good’ in all areas for its boarding provision!

If this inspection team had visited Caversham, what grade would they have given? It shouldn’t be this variable.

@queenofthewild DBS is also required for volunteers in school. That would not have any scrutiny from LA payroll etc.

If everything is in place, surely the SLT should be able to find it? It is a failure if they cannot!! Do we take safeguarding seriously or not? Heads have so much advice on ofsted requirements and safeguarding procedures. Just follow it!

The example I have found - published today - is Good DESPITE the detail of the paperwork that is not in place and the failure to meet minimum boarding standards for safe handling of medication.

Caversham’s report gives no details of the failings at all, and yet is Inadequate. It just has generalised ‘statement bank’ statements.

I am not saying 1 is ‘right’ and one is ‘wrong’. I am saying that different teams inspecting different schools should not gave glaring inconsistencies in their judgements, or at least should all give sufficient detail for us to understand why the judgements reached are diametrically opposed.

If everything is in place, surely the SLT should be able to find it?

That said, inspectors should accept ‘in place in any useful format that meets overall guidance’ rather than failures for ‘not in exactly the format I have decided in my mind they should have / we have in my place’. The latter is distressingly common.

If everything is in place, surely the SLT should be able to find it? It is a failure if they cannot!!
What people are saying is that schools are being nitpicked for not having the information in the inspector's preferred format.

This is what the tiresome posts seem to miss.

Nobody is saying it's fine to have a rubbish curriculum or missing paperwork.

It is a problem if:

• Inspector A goes to one school and pulls the school up for having paperwork X in format B
• Inspector B goes to a different school on the same day and pulls the school up for having paperwork X in format A.

It is a problem if:

• Inspector A looks at a curriculum document, speaks to the relevant staff and can see it's a well planned and well-sequenced curriculum.
• Inspector B could visit the same school and tell the school the curriculum wasn't up to much because they hadn't included their favourite topics (which aren't specified in the inspection framework).

It should be obvious why can't a 'guess what the random stranger prefers on the day' approach to inspection is problematic and causes issues.

but it changes every month, so how much time should school staff spend changing the way everything is stored?